Kona Misser replica 1997

Absolutely love these frames/bikes. Will be amazing once finished.

The bikes pictured above both have the prototype 1st gen RockShox Boxxer on.

I believe the early ones (like yours) were built by Turner (Turner Afterburner) and were stickered up as Kona's.

I have PM'd you on Insta as I have a Misser replica Kona jersey from this era.
 
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Finally out of storage 🥰
 
Just noticed the recent post, Hopefully some progress soon 😎 🥳
 
Quick question. Does anyone know how I can work out the rotor sizes needed for this? Is there a particular dimension I can take from the disc tabs? Does it matter at all what size I run, but more the caliper size and the resulting rotor size it can take?

I think it's the former but clarification would be super helpful!
 
Progress at long, long last.

During the strip down I had a problem with one of the bushings. They are very rudimentary by todays standards, and one of the them on the main pivot was particularly tight. It was a pain to remove and on closer inspection, at some point during it's life, it had been damaged, presumably through poor maintenance. It meant the rear triangle wouldn't budge at all. A downhill hardtail!

My new LBS, Carn Bikes (Stuart is the don-dapper) has a lathe and my theory was that he could put one of the metal bearings on it, and evenly sand it to reduce the friction. Thankfully, it didn't need that treatment and instead he repaired the damaged plastic insert.

With the reconditioned shock, we have a moving rear triangle. It really shows how tight the clearance is on the pivot to top tube and the top of the shock on the top pivot. I will need to add some foam inserts to prevent any further paint loss.

So with a operational frame, I could finally fit the front-end. I'm using the Hope headset it came with since it's period correct or at least looks the part. It's a little rough but she'll be getting light use so I can live with that. I'm super stoked with the Mister T's. They are really bad-ass and even though Tomi never used them, they are period correct and perform much better than Boxxers. Light they are not...boy it's a heavy front end!

The stem I scored a long time ago. Tomi used the proto-type of this model, the X-Lite Fly, in red. Red would look odd with the orange forks so when I saw an orange one, I had to have it. Whilst it's not an exact colour match, I think it works really well.

Finally the bars. Again, Tomi used X-Lite G-Force, this exact version with the black brace. I was very happy one came up for sale here a few weeks back. It's been a long time since I scored any components from here. Whilst they are cut - everyone did it didn't they - they are still wide enough to look the part.

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Are you meant to have the spacers above or below the shock plate? Does it matter at all? Sliding the stanctions down is out of the question as they are two-piece and join at the shock crown.

Now she needs a good clean and polish, ready for the Malverns next week where she'll be on display at the Kona tent, with a parts wish list I've cobbled together in the style of a 1997 Kona catalogue, because right now, this is as far as I can go with the build.

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My question about callipers and rotors is still out there, so any advice or feedback would be appreciated. This was a discipline I was never really into other that a casual observer.
 
Just found this, not sure if anyone mentioned this but it looks like a MK1 front end with a modified MK2 rear end.
 
Can you give me an idea why you think that?

As far as I know, it's as it came from the factory, with an after market disc mount added. The catalogue pic is misleading - not for the first time!

The bike Tomi rode had a gold rear end and silver swing arm. Some nice example here:

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On the few I've seen online, the black swing arm / silver rear triangle was what came out of the factory. Example here:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/turner-kona-thomas-misser-replica-rare.74005/
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Here you can really see how tight the pivot clearance is.

Side note, I will be looking for a handy graphic designer / artist who can recreate the skull and crossbones for the decals. It's uber cool and a necessity. Please hit me up if you're suitable skilled and up for it!

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The differences I see are on Tommi's bike the chain stay is angled downward at the bottom bracket, on yours and the MK2 with the disk mount it is straigh, also your linkage plates are very slightly different having an extra strenghtening bar in the middle of the plate.
 
Continuing the flow, where could you find a pristine version? Hanging with the greats (I've shared this before but it's worth another look):

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It's sporting the same Fox Vanilla you find on Manomano's of the same year. No disc mount to show it's after market on mine. But as a bike, this is how it was sold.

From Turner, this is the cough <original> cough version:

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And here we can see this version, not Tomi's, in action:

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Super cool with the early Magura disc brakes and callipers, Z1s, and what must be a first-gen DMax wheel. I have thought about using them as wheels and I may have to resort to them if I can't sort out Hope Big Un's on D521s.

If my memory serves me right, this was one of Tomi's, later version sporting the same rear-end as the production version, but with a disc tab and a silver swing arm and, what looks like a unique feature of no gear hanger, presumably to save on weight ;) :LOL:
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Proof, were it needed, that these bikes were ridden into the ground.
 
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